BASEBALL: Greencastle-Antrim falls to South Western

GREENCASTLE — Despite a relatively sound performance against a quality opponent, the unpredictable start to the season continued for the Greencastle-Antrim varsity baseball team on Friday.

After battling back to tie the game at 2-2 entering the fifth inning, the Blue Devils appeared capable of exchanging blows with visiting South Western, seemingly seizing the momentum entering the later stages of the contest.

Unfazed, the Mustangs answered by scoring three runs in the fifth before tacking on another in the sixth en route to a 6-2, non-league victory.

"There were plenty of positives, but we still have to do a better job in all phases, especially against a team like South Western," G-A head coach Eric Shaner said. "We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times and we just haven't been able to put hits together at the plate. Hopefully we can build on the positives and improve moving forward."

The Mustangs jumped on the board early with a run in the first before Danny Stepler singled, stole second and later scored on a botched pickoff attempt to knot things up heading into the third.

Following another South Western tally for a 2-1 lead, G-A again showed the ability to keep pace as Holden Baker sent an RBI-double off the chalk line in right, again tying the game at the end of the fourth.

The complexity of the contest quickly changed in the top of the fifth, with a triple by South Western's Parker Bean sparking the Mustangs' three-run inning. An RBI-single from Bishop Elder ensued prior to a two-run base knock by starting pitcher Chris Mills, abruptly pushing the advantage to 5-2.

Despite putting three base runners on in the home half of the frame, G-A was unable to cut into the deficit, thus allowing Bean's third hit of the game in the top of the sixth to extend South Western's lead to four.

The Blue Devils then left two more on base in the bottom of the sixth before being retired in order in the seventh, bringing an unfavorable end to a game that seemed within reach.

Stepler accounted for both G-A runs while Adam Moore remained hot at the plate, hammering a leadoff double to left to begin the fourth.

Through the first five games of the 2013 campaign, Moore is batting .526 (10-for-19) to lead all Blue Devil hitters.